BlackVert
15 Year Member
Street friendly, 300 hp, cobra or 5.0?
- Thread starter dstang01
- Start date
How would one go about upgrading to a Cobra tune on a stock GT? I don't have a tweecer or an SCT or anything like that. I'm interested if it could help stop this obnoxious pinging problem i have.
have you checked what the insurance would cost? there may be a difference there as well ...
insurance would definately be more on the cobra, another plus for the 5.0
rj95svt
Member
The gas mileage is not much of a concern. Both cars get roughly the same gas mileage. The insurance is going to be higher on the 96-98 cobra. The 94-95 cobra isn't much different than the gt though.
WHITE94COBRA
New Member
I'm 32 and have a good driving record, the 94 is just under $100 a month for ins. the 98 is $105 a month. The 94 stock got about 16 - 21 mpg, the 98 gets 18-25 and sometimes better depending how you drive, Both of my cars I can run 87 octane gas in without pinging issues. Hope that debunks some more for you.
You're able to run 87 in the 94 cobra without pinging? thats good to hear. also, is your 98 a cobra as well or a gt, apparently the dohc's go into some kind of limp mode with 87 and the rev range is affected, but gt's are supposed to run on the stuff. Thanks for the ins. info too
Do you guys who do a mild h/c/i on their 5.0s notice a huge drop in drivability and gas mileage? Im still trying to weigh out if the stock drivability and gas mileage of a dohc cobra is worth the extra cash (and the fact that I wont have to dig into the motor to make respectable power)
EDIT: Also, if anyone has links to other threads about mild h/c/i combos, please post em up
WHITE94COBRA
New Member
MI95Cobra
New Member
This one is a no brainer
The best bang for the buck spent is with the 94-95
Heck ... 300 motor hp is only 255 to the wheels
That ain't nothing but few OEM parts
No finicky Blowers, Turbos or Juice needed
Just ... Plain Ole Basic Hot Rodding at work here
I bet when you get to that levelYou'll Want More
Grady
i know i did when i went for my 95 cobra....i bought it saying no mods for 3 yrs....
yeah right....jimmy
MI95Cobra
New Member
i pay $150 a month for full coverage for 2 cobra's......the insurance for a 96gt was going to be $10-15 more a month...
jimmy
jimmy
Actually its kinda strange but i am getting better gas mileage after the H/C/I than when it was stock.
Yep sounds weird but true
Actually its kinda strange but i am getting better gas mileage after the H/C/I than when it was stock.
Yep sounds weird but true
Ive heard this too, thats the main reason I asked
It makes sense that if you have more efficient better flowing equipment than the stock stuff you should get some better mileage too (when you stay off the loud pedal that is..) If I can retain stock or stock like mileage, reliability and drivability with a mild 5.0 then Id most likely go that route instead of paying more for the dohc cobra (especially in canada.. the word 'cobra' is worth a few grand itself.. no matter what shape the cars in 
)
My 95 is a weekend toy only ... however
I've taken a few trips to east and south Texas and got a bit better
than 19mpg with an average cruise speed of around 80mph.
I bet it would do a good bit better at 65 to 70mph
I really do use a good bit of gas when tooling around town
but
I do drive pretty aggressive so that is to be expected
My drivability is like stock except for cam lope
but
I did use a Tweecer Self Tuning Interface to help with that
Grady
I've taken a few trips to east and south Texas and got a bit better
than 19mpg with an average cruise speed of around 80mph.
I bet it would do a good bit better at 65 to 70mph
I really do use a good bit of gas when tooling around town
but
I do drive pretty aggressive so that is to be expected
My drivability is like stock except for cam lope
but
I did use a Tweecer Self Tuning Interface to help with that
Grady
I really have no clue about this no dynos arround here , but i can hang with no problems with LS1 with gears and repro, bolted on cobras 97-96 , bolted on 05
My calculations are arround 290-310rwhp but is just that merely calculations from the cars i can hang with.
Isnt this the most difficult part of all
Methodical
15 Year Member
have you checked what the insurance would cost? there may be a difference there as well ...
Hell insurance for a kid in high school with probably not much of a driving history and a muscle car is going to be high, especially full coverage.
I too wanted a nice streetable Mustang at first too. Then I rebuilt my motor and did a H/C/I. Now, I'm in the process of installing nitrous and will eventually be running a 150 shot. But I built the bottom end of the motor with forged parts for a few extra bucks just in case though. Now the "just in case" has come true - nitrous. She has great street manners - tune with TwEECer - but every now and again I can give her a shot in the arm when needed. She is not a DD so that made a difference in the route I took with it.
Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with the 94/95 as parts are cheaper and the aftermarket is endless. Hell, you probably can replace everything on a Mustang in the aftermarket world cheaper and better than OEM stuff. They are easy to work on. They look good. Now as fars as getting a Chevy, uhmmm, yeah they may be fast but they don't look good or sound better than the Mustangs - any year. Chevy blew it with the Euro look camaro.
WHITE94COBRA
New Member
I stand corrected, the 98 cobra run's much better with the premium fuel. I called My tuner asked about the difference between the two fuels, and he told me about the limp mode, what it is, is the knock censor is retarding timing to compensate for low octane. We followed this up with a couple dyno pulls, I had a little less than a quarter tank of 87, ran the car, got it to run a best of 247hp, and 282 tq, we then added 110 just enough to bump the octane rating, and got 255 hp and 287tq. So enough to see on a dyno, but not much as far as SOTP.
BlackVert
15 Year Member
i know that the stock bottom end of a 5.0 is good for 400hp or so maybe a little more, but what can the stock bottom end on a 96-98 cobra take. I know the block on the 4.6 is way better and so is the crank, but what about the rods and pistions. My understanding is that the cammer cars use powdered rods . I hope ford wouldnt do that...but you never know.
Also wouldnt a 5.0 with aluminum heads and intake be lighter then the cammer. I know the mod motor is aluminum, but its also as big as 460....
. I hope ford wouldnt do that...but you never know.Also wouldnt a 5.0 with aluminum heads and intake be lighter then the cammer. I know the mod motor is aluminum, but its also as big as 460....
Right now im thinkin 5.0, much cheaper in all aspects and good potential. Ill be able to afford a nice clean one (with the cobra, Id be looking for a deal and Id probably settle for mediocre) and money wont be as tight so I can afford some performance and suspension bolt ons. Later on, Id like to tackle an h/c/i project or go blown (see my other thread for that) Im looking forward to being able to do my own work on the car too, the mod motors are awesome and all but they are complex (and the size of a 460 in the sn95 engine bay..)
Thanks for all your comments
u guys are a real help
